Music roundup: Bill Wharton is cooking as the music scene heats up

4:56 PM,
Aug. 21, 2013

Tallahassee institution Bill 'Sauce Boss' Wharton rips through a rollicking tune during a smoking show in April at The Moon. He will be preaching the blues and cooking up some gumbo (not gumbo pot to the left) live on the stage today at The Bradfordville Blues Club.

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The first time I saw Bill "Sauce Boss" Wharton play was nearly 30 years ago on a street corner at midnight in downtown Tallahassee. It was a Tuesday night that was bleeding into Wednesday morning.

The crowd was being turned out at closing time at Radcliffe's, a now-defunct bar across from the Capitol on Jefferson Street that catered to live acoustic music. Wharton did not feel his set ended on the proper note.

So, Wharton stood on the corner of Pensacola Street and the Adams Street Commons banging on a guitar, playing slide and howling the blues after midnight. It was loose, a tad sloppy, wildly ...